Movies Like Catching Fireflies

If you liked Catching Fireflies (2015), a drama and fantasy movie directed by Lee Whittaker, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2005)
★ 6.9/10Also drama
A tale of an inner city drug dealer who turns away from crime to pursue his passion, rap music.
2
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
★ 8/10Also drama
The drug-induced utopias of four Coney Island residents are shattered when their addictions run deep.
3
Menace II Society (1993)
★ 7.5/10Also drama
A young street hustler attempts to escape the rigors and temptations of the ghetto in a quest for a better life.
4
Urchin (2025)
★ 6.7/10Also drama
Mike, a rough sleeper in London, is trapped in a cycle of self-destruction as he attempts to turn his life around. Along the way, he encounters unexpected chances for a fresh start.
5
Heaven Knows What (2015)
★ 6.4/10Also drama
A young heroin addict roams the streets of New York to panhandle and get her next fix, while her unstable boyfriend drifts in and out of her life at random.
6
Where the Day Takes You (1992)
★ 6.1/10Also drama
King is a young man, but he's already a veteran of life on the streets of Los Angeles. The de facto leader of a group of teenage runaways, King acts as a mentor to troubled kids such as gay hustler Little J and junkie…
7
Bound by Honor (1993)
★ 8.2/10Also drama
Based on the true life experiences of poet Jimmy Santiago Baca, the film focuses on half-brothers Paco and Cruz, and their bi-racial cousin Miklo. It opens in 1972, as the three are members of an East L.A. gang known…
8
Paid in Full (2002)
★ 6.9/10Also drama
Ace is an impressionable young man working for a dry cleaning business. His friend, drug dealer Mitch, goes to prison. In an unrelated incident, he finds some cocaine in a pants pocket. Soon, Ace finds himself dealing…
9
Shaft (1971)
★ 6.4/10Also drama
Cool Black private eye John Shaft is hired by a crime lord to find and retrieve his kidnapped daughter.
10
Kids (1995)
★ 6.9/10Also drama
A group of bored, disaffected New York City teenagers spend a day skating, smoking, drinking, partying, deflowering virgins, and getting into fights.
11
Cardboard Boxer (2016)
★ 6.5/10Also drama
Gentle and broken, a homeless man fights others on video for money but soon finds comfort in an unlikely friend and the lost diary of a young girl.
12
Mammal (2016)
★ 6.3/10Also drama
After Margaret, a divorcée living in Dublin, loses her teenage son, she develops an unorthodox relationship with Joe, a homeless youth. Their tentative trust is threatened by his involvement with a violent gang and the…
13
Mexicali (2026)
★ 7.8/10Also drama
A former special forces contractor is forced out of retirement as an avocado farmer in Mexico when local gangsters try to force him and his family off their farm.
14
The Nines (2007)
★ 6/10Also drama and fantasy
A troubled actor, a television show runner, and an acclaimed videogame designer find their lives intertwining in mysterious and unsettling ways.
15
Killer's Kiss (1955)
★ 6.3/10Also drama
Davey Gordon, a New York City boxer at the end of his career, falls for dancer Gloria Price. However, their budding relationship is interrupted by Gloria's violent boss, Vincent Rapallo, who has eyes for Gloria. The…
16
The Doors (1991)
★ 7.1/10Also drama
The story of the famous and influential 1960s rock band and its lead singer and composer, Jim Morrison.
17
The Baker (2023)
★ 6.2/10Also drama
A quiet, stoic man, lives a monk-like existence in self-imposed exile. When his estranged son is killed in a drug deal gone bad, he is left to look after a granddaughter he never knew existed, and he is forced back…
18
Mikey and Nicky (1976)
★ 6.9/10Also drama
Nick is desperate, holed up in a cheap hotel, suffering from an ulcer and convinced that a local mob boss wants him killed. Terrified, he calls Mikey, his friend since childhood and a fellow gangster. So begins a long…
19
Nine Days (2021)
★ 6.8/10Also drama and fantasy
A bureaucrat interviews five souls to decide which of them will be given a life on Earth. But he soon faces an existential challenge of his own.
20
Trainspotting (1996)
★ 8/10Also drama
Heroin addict Mark Renton stumbles through bad ideas and sobriety attempts with his unreliable friends --Sick Boy, Begbie, Spud and Tommy. He also has an underage girlfriend, Diane, along for the ride. After cleaning…